May 31, 2007

On the Move

Richard Smith, Alexandre Rene and Guy Singer have walked away from Florida-based Akerman Senterfitt to join Fulbright & Jaworski’s Washington office. The trio, which starts work next week at Fulbright, represents the entirety of Akerman’s white collar practice in the District.

Smith is the former acting chief of the fraud section at the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. And he was one of the first-hand picked additions to Akerman's D.C. office, a year after it opened, in fall 2005.

Singer is also a Justice Department alum. He was part of the team of prosecutors that won convictions or guilty pleas from: Jack Abramoff, former public relations executive Michael Scanlon, former General Services Administration procurement official David Safavian, former Rep. Robert Ney (R-Ohio), and former Republican congressional staffers turned lobbyists Neil Volz and Tony Rudy. Their exit comes on the heels of GOP lobbyist Jose Fuentes’ recent departure from Akerman.

The trio arrives at Fulbright two months after Michael Battle joined. Battle headed DOJ’s Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys until earlier this year, when he served as the primary messenger when the decision was made to fire the eight U.S. attorneys.